When Samsung put out their first smart watch last year, I had no desire to get one. It was square and seemed stuck in the smartphone form factor (like the new Apple Watch). I couldn’t think of a need for a smart watch at the time.

Then, earlier this year, Motorola started teasing the Moto 360. It was a smart watch that looked like a watch, not just a square gadget slapped tied to your wrist. It was fascinating.

As the summer went on, I kept checking on and as more details came out, the Moto 360 started to look more and more appealing.

Then, my birthday rolls around, incidentally right around the date suspected to be the release date. Sure enough, my wife was kind enough to get my one. So, I’m now the proud owner of a Moto 360.

I’ll get around to writing up a proper review once I get a chance to use it for a bit but a couple of things to keep in mind if you are looking at buying one of these:

1. You need Android 4.3 at a minimum. Here in Alaska it can at times be tricky to find new phones with very recent versions of Android. Hence, I went ahead and flashed CyanogenMod 11 to get my phone up to date.

2. Prepare to sacrifice some of the battery life on your phone. The Moto 360 (and any other Android Wear device, I imagine) uses Bluetooth to sync information and leaving Bluetooth turned on all day will affect your battery life.

Speaking of battery life, there has been some controversy surrounding the battery life of the Moto 360. Some reviewers have slammed it as dreadful while others are easily getting a day’s use out of it. After two days, I can understand both points of view and I will offer my two cents in a separate post.

What are your thoughts so far on Android Wear and the Moto 360?